GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES

2Pe 1:3-4 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

There seems to be much debate among men as to the source, vitality, and purpose of life. The scripture tells us that this is given to us as it pleases God. Everything that pertains to life and godliness is given. According to Strong’s the word translated here as given means “to bestow gratuitously.” Webster defines the word “gratuitously” as “freely; voluntarily; without claim or merit; without an equivalent or compensation.” In other words, we have all things that pertain unto life and godliness according to His divine power in grace; freely, voluntarily given without any merit or compensation on our part! We have it, but we only put it to full use through knowledge.

Just as knowledge (discernment) of God is the source of our grace and peace being increased (2Pe 1:2), so it is also the source of understanding that all things that pertain to life and godliness come from Him. Without this discernment, we will try to take credit for work that is not ours. We need to stop and be thankful that we have been given the knowledge of Him. He certainly works His will with or without my knowledge. However, knowledge brings me a peace and a hope that I otherwise would not have; knowledge gives us access to things laid in store. By His grace, knowledge gives us access to the fact that He has bidden us to glory (honor, worship, praise) and virtue (excellence). Regardless of what we are by our carnal nature, in Him we are called to worship our King and do so with excellency. What a joy to know that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can come before His throne and leave the ordinary behind us!

This same divine (Godhead) power that gives us all things that pertain to life and godliness also gives us the greatest, most valuable promises. God’s promises are not like men’s promises. God’s promises are gifts in and of themselves. God’s promise to never leave or forsake us is an anchor we hold to, even when we might not see or feel Him near as we would like. God’s promise through God the Son that He has overcome the world allows us to have a cheerful disposition in the face of adversity, even when it looks to others like the world has the upper hand. God’s promise that He has loved us with an everlasting love drives out the fear that we are not worthy of love. Our knowledge of Him makes these promises fact, not just empty words. What wonder that we mortal creatures share in the divine nature of God as a matter of fact!

Through the divine power of His promises, we are able to love as Jesus loves. Through the divine power of His promises, we are able to speak of the glory of a kingdom that the world cannot see, yet permeates everything around us. Through the power of His promises, we are able to use these mortal tongues to praise the Immortal God of glory. Through His promises, we are able to know things of His that are otherwise too great for us. Being partakers of His divine nature, we have escaped corruption.

I know that I am a sinner in the flesh. I know that I am nothing without Him. If I trust His great and precious promises, then I also know that, in Jesus, I am freed from sin. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I am a witness to the resurrecting power of God. According to His purpose in grace, I am able to resist the lust of the flesh, and because I can do this, I have (already) escaped the corruption that is in the world. Through the divine power of God, the Father, administered to us by the divine power of God, the Son, we are made partakers of the divine nature by the divine power of God, the Holy Spirit, which reveals to us these exceeding great and precious promises!

May we walk daily in the divine nature that we have because it has pleased God to bring us into His fellowship!